An Interview with David Womack, Jan Hailey, and Lynn Robinson
David: Hello everyone and welcome back to another PMI short. I believe today is number 5. My name is David, and I'm President and CEO of Practice Management Institute. I'm joined today by Lynn and Jan.
Lynn is the Director of Physician Relations and Professional Education at the Delaware State Medical Society, and Jan is the CEO of Practice Matters. Jan is also a senior faculty member at PMI, and Lynn is also a faculty member as well. Lynn does a lot of teaching in some of our certification classes, so I certainly want to give you your due welcome, ladies. How are you?
Jan: Great. Thanks for having us today.
Lynn: Yes, doing great. Thank you.
David: Absolutely. Today, we're here to talk about effective staff meetings, and specifically the daily huddle. I know that just in prepping and planning for this, we've talked about kind of busting this up into three or four different episodes to talk about different types of meetings. But today, we're going to focus on effective staff meetings and specifically talk about why they're important. and, quite frankly, how to get them going.
So, having said that, Lynn, I'll start with you. Why in the world should we have a daily huddle?
Lynn: I love the daily huddle, and I always encourage my classes to consider having one. It's super important because it’s just a few minutes every day and helps align priorities within your team. It fosters collaboration, helps with problem-solving, and bottom line, it ensures we’re all rowing in the same direction every day.
David: I started to look up a clip from The Godfather, I think it was the third one, where they talk about all of our ships sailing in the same direction, and you just said rowing.
Lynn: Absolutely, let's all make sure we're rowing in the same direction every day.
David: That's right. Jan, anything to add to that?
Jan: Yeah, I think one of the things the daily huddle does is allow for quick problem-solving. For example, you can look at your schedule and anticipate where bottlenecks might occur. You can figure out how to prevent them before they happen. You can also look at the schedule to decide where to add walk-ins or other appointments. It keeps fires from burning during the day and helps avoid having the office manager, administrator, or even the provider becoming the "fire chief" of the day, since problems are anticipated ahead of time.
David: Absolutely. I think we can all agree they're very important. If a practice isn’t doing it now, how can they implement something like this? Lynn, thoughts?
Lynn: Yes, I would make it mandatory. Make sure that anyone who's there each day knows it’s a mandatory, quick meeting—maybe even around the coffee maker or the water cooler. It doesn’t have to be formal. If you’re in person, do a quick meeting in the morning, stick to a few quick agenda items, and make it mandatory. I recommend starting with patients. Do we have any special patients today who might need extra time? Discussing them early saves time and reduces surprises. Also, recognize and celebrate anything great that happened the previous day. Make it part of the mandatory meeting to keep morale high.
David: That’s fantastic. Jan, anything to add?
Jan: I think the key to starting a huddle is commitment—commitment from the office manager, the administrator, and of course, the staff. It’s important to be present and start the day that way. A daily huddle will give real-time feedback and boost morale. Lynn’s idea of meeting around the water cooler creates a relaxed atmosphere, and it helps people feel supported. It’s about anticipating needs, whether it’s for the provider, nurse, medical assistant, or front office. The huddle brings everyone together. I also love how the huddle lets the team look at the schedule together. The nurse might see where they can fit in an add-on, which improves the patient experience by getting them scheduled right away. The huddle anticipates problems and solves them before they happen.
David: That’s a great point. Jan, you also mentioned something earlier about buy-in from providers or ownership. Could you share that?
Jan: When offices start the daily huddle, they might get pushback from providers who don’t want to attend or feel it doesn’t involve them. But don’t wait for provider buy-in. Start the huddle with the commitment from staff, and providers will see the benefits soon enough. They’ll notice the schedule running smoother, MRI reports or lab results ready when patients come in, and quality scores improving. The daily huddle sets the tone for the day, and providers will come around in time.
David: That’s perfect. I hope this gives people a sense of how to get a quick daily huddle going. I noted a few takeaways: small, quick, and informal. Lynn, the water cooler idea is great. Next time, we’ll talk about staff meetings, which are more formal, and that’ll be a lot of fun. Before we go, Lynn, you’ve got a CMOM course starting soon. Do you want to give a quick shout-out?
Lynn: Absolutely. We have a 7-week CMOM class starting every Wednesday, beginning October 9th. It’s a three-hour class each week. The CMOM course is an intense, amazing certification for medical office managers. If you’re a practice manager looking to elevate your credentials and take your career to the next level, you definitely want to look into it. If you’re not a practice manager but want to become one, check out pmimd.com for more information.
David: Fantastic. Ladies, thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.
Jan: Alright, thanks everyone. Thanks, David.
Lynn: Thanks for having me. Take care.
Jan: Good to see you, Lynn.
David: Bye-bye.
Lynn: Great to see you too. Bye.
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